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By: Lukas Dammer 12/14/23
“Do you know about the horror of Christmas?” You might be preparing for Christmas and think Halloween is past us but Halloween may have passed but the horror hasn't because Krampus is here; a half-goat and half-demon beast ready to get you if you're naughty, but don't think this all! Krampus is believed to have originated in Germany as the devilish partner of Saint Nicholas or Santa, and is told to take away bad and misbehaving children to be never seen or heard of again. Krampus’s name is derived from the German word Krampen which means “claw” in English.
Krampus had been thought to be part of pagan rituals for the winter solstice. He is also believed to be the son of the Norse god Hel, ruler of Helheim or called the underworld. Santa and Krampus are said to arrive on December 5th which is also called Krampusnacht, which means Krampus night. While Saint Nicholas gives gifts to behaving children, Krampus beats children who are naughty with sticks and branches and is said to eat them sometimes or take them to the underworld to suffer. When the sun rises, some kids wake up with gifts, but others wake up needing to heal their injuries from the brutal night before.
A legend can not have its counterparts like the Belsnickle whom some say is an amalgamation of the jolly old gift-giving Saint Nicholas and the devilish and cruel krampus. The Belsnickel looks like the average human but wears tattered clothes and wears furs and wields a great whip or called a switch which is a small wooden whip.The Belsnickle is said to originate at the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany and it has been called a various amount of names like the Kriskinkle, Beltznickle, Pelsnichol, and the Christmas woman on some rare occasions. The bel in Belsnickle means fur and nickel which stands for Saint Nicholas.
Knecht Ruprecht or Servant Ruprecht in Saxony he was a priest who got interrupted by rowdy ruffians who were partying outside the church while he was saying Christmas Eve so he put a spell on them and dance for a year till the bishop to offer absolution to the ones who didn't die.While in southerly states, his story is different. While he isn’t going to eat children, kidnap them or ravage a town with his hoard of fellows like Krampus, the two share an origin. In the early Middle Ages, saints were expected to reward and acknowledge goodness, so many were portrayed with attendants who did the necessary dirty work of punishment.
Hopefully you learned a thing or two from this article like the “horrors” but in the end all of them aren't horrors they are parts of everyday life for the people that believe in them just because you think that something they believe in is scary or weird doesn't mean its bad so in the end just respect other people beliefs except for people who believe the earth is flat
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